Effects of welding galvanized steel...

[ThomasPowers]

One other big nasty is beryllium dust so you knifemakers be carefull when you grind scrap bronze and avoid stuff that may be Be containing. I had a beautiful colour bronze wrench I was going to make into a knife guard once---until I read about the effects of beryllium poisoning. Then I trashed it immediately as Be bronze was used for non-sparking tools!

Talking with a friend who was a professional brass founder he told me that *1* piece in a traincar load of brass scrap that tested positive for Be was grounds for not accepting the entire load *and* they had to decontaminate the entire scrap area---that was a tad large as they took in train carloads of scrap.

[aametalmaster]

Its right here in black and white.
Safety and Health Topics: Hexavalent Chromium
Use a good hepa respirator not one of those cheapie paper masks and forget the old wifes tale of drinking milk before welding. I wish i had this info 30 years ago when i started instead of drinking a glass of milk because i prob wouldn't have a puffer in my pocket now...Bob

[Jose Gomez]

Here is a 6 page article that not only explains the effets of welding galvanized, but also the safe way to do it. It's a long read, but well worth it if you have to work with galv.http://www.sperkoengineering.com/htm...Galvanized.pdf

[hammerkid]

Originally Posted by Pat Roy

After reading the Paw Paw Wilson tragedy, I went into my shop and removed and discarded any iron with zinc or shiny coating on it; like cadmium coated bolts and nuts etc. I don't want to weld, grind burn or forge anything like that. A lot of painted metal isn't great for you either. I also wear a dust mask to keep the soot and dust out of my breathing apparatus. I want to enjoy my grandchildren for as long as possible.

Yeah I going to take ALL the gal. stuff in my 2 shops and throw it in the scrap bin and never use it !!!!!!!!

[aametalmaster]

There is no problem using it as long as you do it safely with the proper respirator. A lot of my small bolts that i powdercoat after welding get dunked in muratic acid to remove the coating becaus i need plain bolts and can't buy them...Bob

[blafen]

I was shocked when my shop teacher who i thought was extremely knowledgablebegan setting aside scrap pieces for us to practice welding an he had all kinds of galvanized bits, and i explained to him the negative effects of the galvanization burning off and he got the textbook which listed nothing at all about the effects of burning off galvy. luckily he allowed me to use his computer and i took him to this site and showed him the thread about how Paw paw died from burning galvanization off of steel. if i have to use a piec of galvy i will throw it into some muriatic acid for a while, and then use the steel, because most of the tie you cant grind every bit off. but i am appy to say there is a sing above each welding station in our shop at school that says not to weld any galvanized metal. ( i got em to give it me )

[Frostfly]

I keep seeing people bring up the idea of drinking milk as a way to of set metal fume fever. And while I'm convinved you all have pointed out that it doesn't work. I'd like to point out (among other reasons) why.

Milk, when drunk goes in your stomach. Zinc fumes, when inhaled, go in your lungs. Seems to me even the logic of trying it is bad. The two are in diffrent places unless you like inhaling your milk or breathing through your stomach, both which seem to me to be a triffle uncomfortable.

[Glenn]

Blafen,
Thank you for using IForgeIron as a safety reference to your instructor.

We keep warning about the dangers of galvanized fumes because most people DO NOT know the proper safety procedures, and have NOT been trained to do it safely. Fewer still will take the time necessary to learn or invest in the proper equipment to do it safely. Therefore we throw out a blanket warning trying to cover all the reasons to be safe. Fume fever (heavy metal poisoning) is not something you want to play with.

Remember that although YOU do not weld on galvanized, the student next to you may, and the fumes from any welding on galvanize will fill the entire room, not just his work station. Personal safety is your taking the responsibility to keep YOU safe.

[ThomasPowers]

Frostfly your reasoning doesn't hold true; otherwise taking oral antibiotics for a lung infection would not work. I've had pneumonia a couple of times and they gave me oral drugs for a lung problem and it did work.

Milk is not a good cure; but for other reasons. Chelation of heavy metals is what you are trying to accomplish and if an oral chelation agent will work then it does not matter how it's been absorbed into the system.

[wolfy9005]

Irritating(maybe poisonous) zinc fumes, and can affect the weld. Just use a piece of sand paper to clean up the weld a little and you should be good to go.

Zinc - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia